ARTICLES ABOUT LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP BY DATE - PAGE 5

Scanning the leader board at the LPGA Championship, you notice a couple of Chos, two Davies, four Lees, five Parks and nine Kims. Out of 149 names in yesterday's opening-round field, though, there are really only two that draw the attention of the casual sports fan, and both have done their part this week to illustrate what it means to be a professional golfer. Annika Sorenstam told us what to do; Michelle Wie showed us what not to do. The past several days - which began with Wie's curious withdrawal at the Ginn Tribute Hosted By Annika and continued with a public reprimand from Sorenstam and a Team Wie meeting with the LPGA's top boss - might ultimately push forward an important and inevitable realization: For the first time since Wie began making waves four years ago, the young golfer finds herself needing the LPGA just as much as the tour needs her. And if both are going to move forward and feed off each other profitably, they'd better come to a quick understanding that what's best for Wie is best for the tour and vice versa.

The migration, a trickle at first, became a steady flow that eventually transformed the LPGA Tour. Nearly a decade after South Korea's Se Ri Pak won the 1998 McDonald's LPGA Championship, the country that spawned this soon-to-be Hall of Famer has become the single biggest force in women's golf. When the 53rd LPGA Championship begins today at Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace, Pak will tee off as its defending champion, and 37 others of Korean descent, including Michelle Wie, will be among the 150 players in the field.

Ever since the LPGA Championship came to Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace in 2005, the event has seemed as much a soap opera as a golf tournament. It has been fraught with friction, often involving Michelle Wie. Two years after sponsors rankled many veteran tour members for making Wie the first amateur to be invited in the tournament's 50-year history, the now 17-year-old prodigy found herself getting blasted again yesterday by the tour's most accomplished player....

Michelle Wie played golf with the men yesterday, and in an exciting twist, it wasn't entirely painful to watch. In fact, it didn't look like it was painful to play, either - and therein lies a bit of a problem. Last week, Wie ended her four-month break and played in her first LPGA event of the year, the Ginn Tribute in Mount Pleasant, S.C. By mid-round on the first day, her card was chock full of bowling scores, and she withdrew with two holes remaining. She claimed her wrist - the reason for that long layoff - was hurting too much to continue.

The portrait of Se Ri Pak was painted nearly a decade ago, at the 1998 LPGA Championship and later that summer at the U.S. Women's Open. It was at those major championships that the shy 20-year-old rookie from South Korea showed little emotion but lots of ability in winning her first two LPGA tournaments. Not only didn't Pak pump her fists, she barely blinked her eyelids. It didn't change much over the next eight years and 20 victories, including two majors. Then came an afternoon last June at Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace when Pak finally let the world see what was stirring inside.

Several players could be in the running for the LPGA's No. 1 ranking by the end of the season, or within the next couple years. Along with current No. 1 Lorena Ochoa of Mexico and former No. 1 Annika Sorenstam, there are a handful of LPGA players who could make a case for themselves should they win a major or two this season. Name Age Country Wins Majors Rank* Skinny Lorena Ochoa 25 Mexico 11 0 No. 1 Needs her first major to be solid No. 1. Annika Sorenstam 36 Sweden 69 10 No. 2 Coming off first significant injury.

The torch was passed quietly earlier this year, not surprising given the reserved personalities of the two players involved. It had been long anticipated, considering how Lorena Ochoa had already replaced Annika Sorenstam on top of the LPGA money list at the end of last season. Yet it still takes a little getting used to that Sorenstam, after a five-year reign as the game's dominant female golfer and maybe the best in LPGA history, is no longer ruling her sport as the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

The LPGA Championship returns to Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace for the third straight year. Designed by legendary golf architect Pete Dye, and opened for play in 1998, Bulle Rock is ranked the 26th best public course by Golf Magazine and 49th by Golf Digest. Rick Rounsaville, Bulle Rock's general manager and director of golf since its inception, provides Sun readers with an inside look at the course, with a list of the toughest holes, the easiest holes, his favorite holes and other interesting characteristics of the course.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. -- After a nearly two-month layoff, Annika Sorenstam will return to the LPGA Tour today at her own tournament, and the former No. 1-ranked player said she plans to be at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace next week for this year's McDonald's LPGA Championship. "My intentions are to play next week, and I'm going to try to follow the schedule I had in mind during the year," Sorenstam said yesterday during a news conference at the RiverTowne Country Club for the inaugural Ginn Tribute Hosted By Annika.